Rallisport Challenge

December 15, 2002|Charles Herold The New York Times

Developed by DICE and published by Microsoft

$39.95

For Windows 98 and later and the Xbox

For all ages

When DICE's racing game RalliSport Challenge came out for the Xbox a few months ago, I tried playing it, but I didn't have a steering wheel attachment for the Xbox, and I soon got bored. Now the game has been released for the PC, and after clamping a Logitech MOMO racing wheel on my desk I discovered that it was a lot of fun.

RalliSport is an off-road racing game, and for me off-road tracks are far more interesting than paved ones. Speeding around an asphalt track bores me to tears, even with a steering wheel controller, but racing through the forest on a dangerous gravel road or swerving along a twisty mountain road is truly exciting.

Driving 150 miles an hour on an icy road at night is an experience I hope never to have in real life, but it is a lot of fun in a game. Off-road racing is fun because you are always on the verge of spinning out of control. Try to make a small turn at high speeds and you may find yourself sliding into a 180-degree turn.

The racing wheel I used had a gearshift knob, as opposed to most wheels, which have less realistic gear shifters like little flaps behind the wheel. I was looking forward to driving with the knob, hoping it would give me that cool racecar-driver feeling I used to get when I owned a car with a four-on-the-floor-style gearshift.

I was disappointed to discover that pushing a knob back and forth is nothing like shoving a metal stick along a slot until it clicks into place.

That's the problem with special controllers: you always want them to be better than they are. I want a racing wheel with a clutch and a real mechanical gearshift. Someday game controllers may deliver an experience that feels completely real.